America has a proud heritage of animation and movie serials. Here’s a recent animated short in the style of a 1930s serial, from Bruce Timm:
A brand new short from producer Bruce Timm featuring a lost tale from Batman’s past, the Dark Knight tracks a strange giant to the mysterious lair of Dr. Hugo Strange.
Good morning.
Palm Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of fifty-three. Rainfall will amount to between three-quarters and one inch.
On this day in 1796, an elephant arrives to the United States:
The America set sail from Calcutta for New York on December 3, 1795. Nothing of interest appears in Nathaniel Hathorne’s Logbook until Wednesday, February 17, 1796, at St. Helena. “This day begins with moderate breezes . . . latter part employed in landing 23 sacks of coffee . . . took on board several pumpkins and cabbages, some fresh fish for ship’s use, and greens for the elephant.” Below is written in large letters “ELEPHANT ON BOARD.” On February 24, the America stopped at the island of Ascension, where the men got several turtles and saw a large sea lion. The last page in the Log records the sighting of Long Island at 7:00 p.m. on April 11. From the times and distances, it can be estimated that the elephant must have been landed in New York on April 13, 1796.
(The logbook’s author, Nathaniel Hathorne, was the father of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, who added a w to the family name.)
The elephant brought in 1796 was probably, but not certainly, Old Bet, an elephant that was part of a menagerie. Sadly, Old Bet was killed in July 1816 when a farmer shot her, on the theory that it was wrong to ask poor people to pay to see animals (but not, strangely, as wrong to kill animals and destroy others’ property).
Good morning.
Saturday will see showers and thunderstorms in Whitewater, with a high of sixty-nine. Rainfall will amount to between a tenth and a quarter of an inch.
How are clocks, phones, and other devices synchronized? Dr. Demetrios Matsakis, Chief Scientist for the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Time Services, has the answer:
On this day in 1861, the Civil War begins:
The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern “insurrection.”
Consider this working definition of crony capitalism:
Crony capitalism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, or other forms of state interventionism.
Crony capitalism is believed to arise when business cronyism and related self-serving behavior by businesses or businesspeople spills over into politics and government, or when self-serving friendships and family ties between businessmen and the government influence the economy and society to the extent that it corrupts public-serving economic and political ideals.
These preferential arrangements of white-collar welfare are, of course, the dark alternative to genuinely free markets in capital, labor, and goods.
When American parents raise a child, they seldom say, “I hope you grow to be a manipulative huckster, taking so much as you can by manipulating government into preferential deals for yourself and your friends.”
There are few people – and no honest, decent ones – who would hope this for themselves or their children.
And yet, and yet, there are such avaricious and undeserving people, with even a few being too many for the damage they cause to a community’s politics and economy.
Whitewater’s slow evolution has passed from the ‘end of the beginning’ into a middle time, likely to last for several years (as did the earlier, beginning period).
A debate and battle over cronyism and undeserved, preferential treatment, of attempts to manipulate the city’s politics and her economy for private gain, will occupy much of this middle period.
No part of that debate will be easy; all of it will be necessary.
A new breed of coffee shop is sweeping west across the globe from Japan, where the hottest place for animal lovers to take their tea is inside a cat café.
The first Japanese restaurant to provide its customers with a roomful of feline companions opened in 2004; there are now hundreds of copycat establishments in Tokyo alone. The craze exploded in Asia, before cafés in East and then Central Europe opened their doors. Last year it was Paris, last month London, and by the end of the year the United States is scheduled to have its first cat café, in San Francisco.
Onerous health and safety regulations, which differ from country to country, have ensured the trend took longer than a grumpy cat meme to go viral, but the thirst for coffee with a side of petting shows no sign of slowing down. Of course the Internet, where the cat is king, has proved a fertile breeding ground for these ventures. The British café raised more than $180,000 online, while a U.S. project successfully crowdfunded almost $60,000. “We were incredibly lucky!” Courtney Hatt, one of the founders of San Francisco’s KitTea, told the Daily Beast.
A sewage treatment plant in King County, Washington, proud of its location, is now advertising as a wedding venue.
Does the supposedly fine view overcome the location, itself? I’ll say no – if waste treatment’s the game, it’s not worth playing.
What do you think?
Good morning.
Friday will be sunny and warm, with a high of sixty-six.
On this day in 1814, Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
On this day in 1965, tornadoes strike our part of America:
1965 – Palm Sunday Tornadoes Ravage Midwest
On this date six tornadoes, part of the “Palm Sunday” outbreak, ripped across Southern Wisconsin, causing 3 deaths and 65 injuries. The outbreak of 51 tornadoes was responsible for 260 deaths and over $200 million in damages throughout the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. [Source: National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office]
Here’s Puzzability‘s final game in its canine-themed series, Dog Eared:
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This Week’s Game — April 7-11
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Dog Eared
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We’re barking orders this week. For each day, we started with the name of a dog breed. Then, for the day’s clue, we broke it down into a series of words that, when said in order, sounds like the original breed. You’ll probably need to say the words out loud to get the answers.
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Example:
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Chair, mensch, ebb, hurt
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Answer:
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German shepherd
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What to Submit:
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Submit the breed (as “German shepherd” in the example) for your answer.
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Friday, April 11
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Good morning.
It’s a one-third chance of scattered showers, with a high of fifty-nine, for Whitewater on Thursday.
Today is the anniversary of the ASPCA‘s founding:
…the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by philanthropist and diplomat Henry Bergh, 54.
In 1863, Bergh had been appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to a diplomatic post at the Russian court of Czar Alexander II. It was there that he was horrified to witness work horses beaten by their peasant drivers. En route back to America, a June 1865 visit to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in London awakened his determination to secure a charter not only to incorporate the ASPCA but to exercise the power to arrest and prosecute violators of the law.
Back in New York, Bergh pleaded on behalf of “these mute servants of mankind” at a February 8, 1866, meeting at Clinton Hall. He argued that protecting animals was an issue that crossed party lines and class boundaries. “This is a matter purely of conscience; it has no perplexing side issues,” he said. “It is a moral question in all its aspects.” The speech prompted a number of dignitaries to sign his “Declaration of the Rights of Animals.”
Bergh’s impassioned accounts of the horrors inflicted on animals convinced the New York State legislature to pass the charter incorporating the ASPCA on April 10, 1866. Nine days later, the first effective anti-cruelty law in the United States was passed, allowing the ASPCA to investigate complaints of animal cruelty and to make arrests….
Here’s Thursday’s Puzzability game:
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This Week’s Game — April 7-11
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Dog Eared
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We’re barking orders this week. For each day, we started with the name of a dog breed. Then, for the day’s clue, we broke it down into a series of words that, when said in order, sounds like the original breed. You’ll probably need to say the words out loud to get the answers.
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Example:
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Chair, mensch, ebb, hurt
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Answer:
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German shepherd
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What to Submit:
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Submit the breed (as “German shepherd” in the example) for your answer.
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Thursday, April 10
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Good morning.
Wednesday looks to be a beautiful April day: sunny with a high of sixty-three.
Private space exploration keeps advancing:
A private spaceflight company will launch its third robotic resupply mission to the International Space Station next week.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s unmanned Dragon vehicle loaded down with supplies is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on April 14. This will be SpaceX’s third official flight to the station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly 12 missions to the orbiting outpost using the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. You can watch the SpaceX launch live on Space.com via NASA TV starting at 3:45 p.m. EDT (1945 GMT) on April 14. Launch is scheduled for 4:58 EDT (2058 GMT).
Below, see a video of the highlights from the first SpaceX mission to the International Space Station:
On this day in 1865, soldiers from Wisconsin witness Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House:
1865 – (Civil War) Confederate Army surrenders
Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant caught up with Confederate forces commanded by General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The 5th, 6th, 7th, 19th, 36th, 37th and 38th Wisconsin Infantry regiments were among the troops that had helped corner the enemy there. The 36th were present at the court house and witnessed the formal surrender ceremony.
From Puzzability‘s canine-themed series, here’s Wednesday’s game:
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This Week’s Game — April 7-11
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Dog Eared
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We’re barking orders this week. For each day, we started with the name of a dog breed. Then, for the day’s clue, we broke it down into a series of words that, when said in order, sounds like the original breed. You’ll probably need to say the words out loud to get the answers.
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Example:
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Chair, mensch, ebb, hurt
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Answer:
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German shepherd
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What to Submit:
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Submit the breed (as “German shepherd” in the example) for your answer.
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Wednesday, April 9
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Good morning.
On Tuesday, Whitewater will have a one-in-five chance of afternoon showers, and a high of fifty-four. Sunrise today is 6:25 AM and sunset 7:29 PM. The moon’s in a waxing gibbous phase with 63% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Parks & Rec Board meets this afternoon at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1974, a new home run record —
…Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53,775 people, the largest in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, was with Aaron that night to cheer when he hit a 4th inning pitch off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Al Downing….
On April 8, 1905, Wisconsin does what no one else in America had done previously:
1905 – First High School Basketball Tournament
On this date Fond du Lac won the Lawrence College Invitational, the first high school basketball tournament held not only in Wisconsin, but in the United States. [Source: Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association]
Here’s the Tuesday game from Puzzability‘s Dog Eared series:
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This Week’s Game — April 7-11
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Dog Eared
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We’re barking orders this week. For each day, we started with the name of a dog breed. Then, for the day’s clue, we broke it down into a series of words that, when said in order, sounds like the original breed. You’ll probably need to say the words out loud to get the answers.
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Example:
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Chair, mensch, ebb, hurt
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Answer:
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German shepherd
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What to Submit:
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Submit the breed (as “German shepherd” in the example) for your answer.
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Tuesday, April 8
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